If you were the biggest star in the world, who would you pick to direct your next film? Will Smith has gone with M. Night Shyamalan, director of the worst film in quite a long time, The Last Airbender. We reported on the sci-fi project earlier last fall, but now the deal is done.
Will Smith will star along with his son Jaden in what is currently titled One Thousand A.E.. Scripted by Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli), the film is “set 1,000 years into the future” and Jaden will play a “young boy who navigates an abandoned and sometimes scary Earth to save himself and his estranged father after their ship crashes.” [THR]
It honestly sounds like a culmination of so many bad ideas, that it may turn out to be good. Shyamalan can honestly only go up after The Last Airbender (please don’t prove me wrong), and Jaden and Will Smith probably have some sort of natural chemistry, being blood related and all. I enjoyed Whitta’s The Book of Eli and I’m interested to see him tackle a science fiction adventure. Maybe this is the spark that Shyamalan needs. Check out a quote from Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, below.
“Night is an outstanding filmmaker who has a tremendous vision for this science-fiction adventure story and we couldn’t be more excited to be working again with Jaden after our experiences on The Pursuit of Happyness and The Karate Kid. We’re thrilled to have the two of them together on this project.”
M. Night Shyamalan also shared his brief thoughts:
“The chance to make a scary, science-fiction film starring Jaden and Will is my dream project.”
I’m scared to see what Shyamalan’s “dreams” look like, but with a scope this big and no start date set yet, don’t expect to see this in theaters for another few years.
What do you think of this project? Does it have any potential?